Who is the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition?

Our mission is to reverse the trend of mass incarceration in Colorado. We are a coalition of nearly 7,000 individual members and over 100 faith and community organizations who have united to stop perpetual prison expansion in Colorado through policy and sentence reform.

Our chief areas of interest include drug policy reform, women in prison, racial injustice, the impact of incarceration on children and families, the problems associated with re-entry and stopping the practice of using private prisons in our state.

Monday, December 15, 2014

Thousands
of inmates could be released from Colorado prisons if the state Supreme
Court sides with a man who says he was incarcerated two years too long,
his lawyers argue.
The high court heard arguments last week in
the case of Randal Ankeney. The former attorney, 43, was released from
prison in August 2013 after the Colorado Court of Appeals found that
the Department of Corrections violated state law when it did not use
good-time credit Ankeney earned to reduce the length of his sentence.
"They
are not counting that good time toward anything," said Denver attorney
David Lane, who is representing Ankeney. "That time just disappears."
The
Department of Corrections has appealed that decision to the state
Supreme Court. Department officials declined to comment, citing the
ongoing litigation.
In October 2007, Ankeney pleaded guilty to
one count of negligent child abuse causing serious bodily injury,
according to state records. In exchange for his plea, Larimer County
prosecutors dropped six felony sex assault charges.
Ankeney was sentenced to eight years in prison.
While
serving his sentence at Fremont Correctional Facility in Cañon City, he
enrolled in education and drug and alcohol programs and helped teach
GED classes to inmates, according to filings in the case. By
participating in the programs, Ankeney accumulated "earned-time
credits," and his good behavior earned him additional "good-time
credits."

Ankeney also spent much of his sentence in the prison's
law library researching the state's complex parole scheme, which he
claims requires the state to apply both his earned- and good-time
credits when calculating his mandatory release date. Using that formula,
Ankeney says he should have been released in November 2011 — after
serving roughly half his sentence.
But the department applied only his earned-time credits, and he was denied parole.
When
he was not released, Ankeney filed a petition in Fremont County
District Court. The claim was denied at the district court level, but
the state appeals court later agreed with Ankeney and ordered the
district court to recalculate his mandatory release date.
"To try and muddle your way through the parole statutes, you need a road map and a compass," Lane said.
Ankeney's
case has become as complicated as the 30-year-long, flip-flop history
of the state's parole scheme. But, Lane says, if the case is successful,
it will effectively change the way the Department of Corrections
calculates mandatory release dates and force the release of thousands of
inmates whose good time has not been applied to their release date.
James
Quinn, an attorney with the Colorado Attorney General's office
representing the DOC, says Ankeney and Lane are incorrectly interpreting
state law. Quinn argues that good time may be applied to the date an
inmate becomes eligible for parole, but is not applicable when
calculating a mandatory release date.
"You cannot apply both deductions," Quinn told the state Supreme Court.
According
to a written argument filed by Quinn, multiple offenders — the filing
lists 62 cases — have filed similar petitions in district court. None
of those cases have been successful, according to the filing.
Mark
Silverstein, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of
Colorado, said the length of prison sentences should be addressed in
Colorado.
"Whether through this lawsuit or through legislation,
Colorado needs to address the fact that it incarcerates far too many
people for far too long," Silverstein said in an e-mail. "It's time to
reverse the trend of mass incarceration that gobbled up too much of the
state's budget for too little return."
During arguments before the
Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday, observers packed into the wooden
pews. One man scribbled notes on a scrap sheet of paper sitting on top
of a stack of documents from the State Parole Board.
The justices quizzed Lane and Quinn on the math they were using to calculate mandatory release dates for inmates.
"Are we faced with saying these statutes are inconsistent?" Justice Nathan B. Coats asked. "How do we reconcile this?"
The high court will issue a written opinion at a later date.
Lane has also filed a federal lawsuit against the DOC on behalf of Ankeney and three other men challenging their mandatory release dates. That suit seeks compensatory damages.Jordan Steffen: 303-954-1794, jsteffen@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jsteffendp